| | | 01/11/2023 Wednesday briefing: What Boris Johnson’s closest advisers had to say for themselves at the Covid inquiry | | | | Rupert Neate |  |
| | | Good morning. Today we’re headed to the Covid inquiry, which is increasingly revealing staggering – and foulmouthed (you’ve been warned) – insights into how Boris Johnson and his advisers handled the outbreak of the pandemic. Those who were once closest to the former prime minister have revealed Johnson was referred to as “the trolley” by “pretty much everyone” due to the inconsistency of his decision making and that he described coronavirus as “just nature’s way of dealing with old people”. Johnson said in October 2020 that he “no longer buy[s] all this NHS overwhelmed stuff”, and fought back against scientists calling for a lockdown. He argued instead that “we should let the old people get it and protect others” from the economic effects of another lockdown. In one WhatsApp message eventually released to the inquiry being held in Dorland House, west London, Johnson wrote: “I must say I have been rocked by some of the data on Covid fatalities. The median age is 82 – 81 for men, 85 for women. That is above life expectancy. So get Covid and live longer.” His closest adviser, Dominic Cummings, didn’t appear to have much faith in Johnson, and even less in his cabinet. “At the moment the [Westminster] bubble thinks you’ve taken your eye off [the] ball, you’re happy to have useless fuckpigs in charge” he said in reference to other members of the cabinet in a message to the PM in summer 2020. When asked to explain those messages to the inquiry yesterday, Cummings said: “My appalling language is obviously my own but my judgment of a lot of senior people was widespread … I would say, if anything, it understated the position.” There’s a lot more, after the headlines. | | | | Five big stories | 1 | | 2 | Transport | Plans to close railway station ticket offices in England have been scrapped in a government U-turn. The transport secretary, Mark Harper, said the “government had asked train operators to withdraw their proposals” after a huge public backlash. | 3 | AI | The Guardian has accused Microsoft of damaging its journalistic reputation by publishing an AI-generated poll speculating on the cause of a woman’s death next to a Guardian article. The automated poll appeared next to a story about the death of Lilie James, a 21-year-old water polo coach who was found dead with serious head injuries at a school in Sydney last week. It asked: “What do you think is the reason behind the woman’s death?” Readers were then asked to choose from three options: murder, accident or suicide. | 4 | Finance | Odey Asset Management is closing down, five months after allegations of sexual misconduct made by junior female members of staff against its founder Crispin Odey threw the hedge fund into turmoil. | 5 | |
| | | | In depth: ‘I don’t think there was any clarity of purpose, any really serious plan’ | | Cast your mind back to 14 March 2020 – when thousands had already died of the virus (including the first deaths in the UK), and Italy had already imposed a national lockdown. The UK government’s scientific advisers and Johnson’s own top team had recommended that a full UK national lockdown was the only way to try to prevent the spread of the virus. But Johnson still didn’t think it was a “big deal” and ignored their advice for nine days, according to Lee Cain, the PM’s former head of communications.
“He doesn’t think anything can be done and his focus is elsewhere, he thinks it’ll be like swine flu and he thinks his main danger is talking economy into a slump,” Cain said in a WhatsApp to Cummings. The diary of a former private secretary recording a meeting with Johnson appears to back this up. “We’re killing the patient to tackle the tumour. Large ppl [taken to mean large numbers of people] who will die, why are we destroying [the] economy for people who will die anyway soon,” the diary of Imran Shafi said. Cain said Johnson met his most senior advisers on 14 March, and “the collective agreement in the room” was that a full lockdown was the only strategy that could suppress the spread of Covid-19, save the NHS from collapse and ultimately buy the government more time. Johnson went on to announce the UK’s first nationwide lockdown on 23 March. Cain was clear with the inquiry: Johnson “should have done more” and that Covid was “the wrong crisis for this prime minister’s skillset”. “I don’t think there was any clarity of purpose, any really serious outline, plan to deal with Covid at that particular point,” he said. Cain described Johnson as a “challenging character to work with” because he would “oscillate” between lockdowns and other policy options. Cummings did not appear to have a nice word to say about anyone. But he had plenty of nasty ones. He described the Cabinet Office as a “dumpster fire”, ministers as “feral”, the cabinet secretary Mark Sedwill as “babbling”, and spoke of “dodging stilettos from that cunt” when referring to the deputy cabinet secretary Helen MacNamara. When challenged on the language he denied claims that it was mysogynistic because he was “much ruder about men”.
Frustration at Johnson changed his ‘strategic direction every day’ | | Cummings and Cain weren’t the only ones struggling to deal with Johnson during the crisis. The UK’s most senior civil servant, Simon Case, told Cummings in a message that he was “at end of my tether” with Johnson changing his “strategic direction every day”. “He [Johnson] cannot lead and we cannot support him in leading with this approach. He changes strategic direction every day (Monday we were all about fear of virus returning as per Europe, March etc — today we’re in ‘let it rip’ mode cos the UK is pathetic, needs a cold shower etc).” Martin Reynolds, the head of the private office of the prime minister, said the plans put in place in March 2020 were “grossly deficient” and admitted that Johnson “did blow hot and cold on some issues” including the “most difficult choices the country was facing”. “[Johnson] oscillated in terms of what should be done, he wondered whether he should be regarded as the mayor in the Jaws film – shutting the beaches,” he said. “Then, within hours or days, he would take a contrary position.”
‘Party Marty’ and the disappearing messages Reynolds was also challenged about why he switched on the “disappearing message” function in a WhatsApp group of senior No 10 staff. He claimed he couldn’t recall why he had switched it on but it might have been “because I was worried of someone screenshotting or using some of the exchanges and leaking them”. Reynolds was nicknamed “Party Marty” after it emerged he had invited more than 100 Downing Street staff to a “bring your own booze” party during the first lockdown. During the inquiry he apologised for arranging the party and for “all the distress caused”. Brenda Doherty, whose mother, Ruth Burke, was the first woman to die in Northern Ireland with Covid, said listening to the evidence at the inquiry felt like being “punched in the stomach”. “While Covid-19 was ripping through the country and I was doing everything I could to protect my mum, [Johnson] was unable to take decisions, and left the country at the mercy of the virus he was supposed to be protecting them from.” Johnson is due to give evidence to the inquiry before Christmas. Brenda will be listening. | | | | Jamie Wilson | | Head of International News, The Guardian |
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| | In its first weeks, the Israel-Hamas war has already seen significant bloodshed on both sides, as well as a humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The ripple effects have been felt globally, with foreign leaders flying to the region to try and prevent escalation, and spikes in antisemitic and Islamophobic hate crime reported in the US and Europe.
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| | | What else we’ve been reading | | The rental market is on its knees and tenants are paying the price. Gaby Hinsliff asks why the government continues to drag its feet as millions of people continue to live in dire and unstable conditions. Nimo Caroline Kimeu writes here about the talent of female photographers in Africa and delves into how they are using their photography to empower and change the world view about previous stereotypes regarding African women. Some of the works include a photo series on albinism and ballet dancers in a Nairobi slum. Nyima Jobe, newsletters team Artificial intelligence has changed the way students learn. Johana Bhuiyan spoke to teachers about how they are dealing with these news tools in their classrooms and whether a total ban is actually the right way forward. Nimo Another Halloween has come and gone and I’m sure everyone placed their costumes in pole position, but are Halloween costumes of today really scary? Emma Beddington takes us through when Halloween costumes actually caused a fright – with the pictures to prove it. Nyima The war in Israel and Gaza has stoked up a lot of fear and distress around the world. With emotions running high, people often turn to social media to express themselves. For New York magazine, Angelina Chapin spoke to people who had experienced professional blowback and even dismissal after they publicly posted their views, examining the employment laws that leave many unprotected. Nimo
| | | | Sport | | Football | Saudi Arabia was confirmed on Tuesday as the sole bidder to host the 2034 men’s World Cup, raising concerns over Fifa’s ability to deliver on its human rights commitments. Cricket | Former champions Pakistan beat Bangladesh by seven wickets, keeping alive their slender chances of making the semi-finals of the World Cup. Football | Sarina Wiegman’s Lionesses depart Belgium bruised in more ways than one, a bad head injury to Alex Greenwood marring the match and a crushing 3-2 defeat taking progression from their Nations League group and Olympic qualification out of their hands. | | | | The front pages | | The Guardian leads with “‘Graveyard for children’: airstrikes kill dozens at Gaza refugee camp”. Other titles play pick your villian with the Covid inquiry and there are two main choices. “Boris: the old should accept their fate”, says the Daily Mirror, but in the Daily Mail, where Johnson has a column, it’s “Now Cummings feels the heat”, making it one-all so far. “Johnson: let elderly accept fate”, says the Times while the Daily Telegraph goes with “Cummings ‘fed toxic, misogynist culture in No10’” and we remain tied at 2-2. “Revealed: ‘orgy of narcissism’ at heart of Covid failings” – a point scored for Johnson in the Daily Express, which explains the then-PM admonished aides for behaving selfishly instead of solving the crisis. But another point against him in the i – “UK’s old people should ‘accept their fate’ from Covid – Boris Johnson’s private stance revealed”. So we end in a dead heat. Elsewhere: “Rail ticket queue-turn” – that’s the Metro which says hundreds of station offices will stay open after civil servants and ministers relented. The Sun has “How dare you” after police took down posters of Israeli child hostages of Hamas – this comes after them “going soft at ‘hate’ demos”, the paper says. And the Financial Times has “Odey Asset Management to close five months after women accuse founder”. | | | | | Today in Focus | | | | | | | Cartoon of the day | Martin Rowson | | | | | The Upside | A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad | | In the midst of chaos and uncertainty, children in Gaza still manage to smile with the help of street dancing collective Camp Breakerz Crew. The crew, who have been at the forefront of the hip-hop scene in Gaza since 2004, hold workshops in Nuseirat UN refugee camp, a shelter for mothers and children displaced by the airstrikes. The aim of the workshops are to remind the children of something positive and remind them they are just children and deserve to feel happy – even if it’s for a short period of time. Ahmed Alghariz, the co-founder of the group, says “I feel happy that we make the children forget about the attacks for a while, I feel happy to see some smiles”. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday | | | | Bored at work? | And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day – with plenty more on the Guardian’s Puzzles app for iOS and Android. Until tomorrow. | | | |
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